Which god is depicted with the head of a jackal?

Which god is depicted with the head of a jackal? The answer is Anubis. This ancient Egyptian god was usually shown as a man with a canine head or as a reclining black canine, and he was closely associated with funerals and the care of the dead.

Anubis protected graves, oversaw embalming, and guided the deceased through the underworld. In scenes of the Weighing of the Heart, he is often shown managing the scales while the dead person’s heart is compared with the feather of Ma’at, the principle of truth and order.

His Egyptian name was Inpu or Anpu; “Anubis” is the Greek form. His connection with jackals probably reflects the animals’ presence around desert-edge cemeteries, where scavengers could disturb shallow burials. Making the animal a divine guardian symbolically turned a threat into a protector.

Anubis is commonly called a jackal-headed god, but the exact animal that inspired his appearance is uncertain. Scholars have proposed the golden jackal, African wolf, fox, or another wild canid. He was also sometimes confused with Osiris, who became the principal lord of the underworld, while Anubis retained his funerary and embalming roles.